Enbridge looking to build hydroelectric projects in B.C., Alberta

Peter O'Neil, Vancouver Sun12.11.2013

A tunnel under construction to carry water to the powerhouse of a run-of-river project in southwestern B.C. Enbridge has confirmed it is proposing several run-of-river hydro projects in northern B.C. and investigating sites for other proposals in B.C. and Alberta. Bonny Makarewicz/Sun files

OTTAWA — Enbridge Inc., through an anonymous numbered company, is seeking to build an undisclosed number of hydroelectric projects — many on salmon-bearing rivers and creeks on traditional aboriginal territories — in B.C. and Alberta, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

Enbridge says they are part of the company’s green energy plans and are not being built to power pumps for the company’s proposed 1,177-kilometre Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat.

But a spokesman indicated Enbridge’s motives are indirectly linked to the $6.5-billion pipeline. Ivan Giesbrecht said that during public consultations on the pipeline, the company heard many demands that it support green energy.

“It’s not unusual at all for Enbridge — one of Canada’s leading renewable energy suppliers — to be asked about renewable energy prospects in and around their communities.”

And Enbridge said there is nothing suspicious in its use of a numbered company.

“I personally don’t appreciate anybody doing business in our territory through a numbered company without notifying us about who they are and what their intentions are.”

SkeenaWild Conservation Trust, a Terrace-based environmental group, obtained and provided to The Vancouver Sun formal applications dated 2012, proposing four hydroelectric projects in the Kitimat-Terrace area. All are within 20 km of the pipeline route.

A spokesman for the independent power industry, Clean Energy BC executive director Paul Kariya, said the four projects are collectively “a significant undertaking” and would cost about $500 million to build.

Enbridge didn’t comment on that estimate.

SkeenaWild spokesman Greg Knox has also uncovered Enbridge applications for four other water power projects, as well as a proposal for an electric power line for the Omineca-Peace regions near Prince George area — again in an area to be traversed by the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline.

Enbridge confirmed it is also planning “run-of-river” power projects in Alberta.

“Enbridge has applied for and received an investigative licence to conduct preliminary assessment work at possible project sites in B.C. and Alberta,” Giesbrecht said. “This licence allows the company limited access to the area, and only so it can determine if the location is suitable for a ‘run-of-river’ type hydroelectric project.”

The company said it wouldn’t proceed without a “full environmental review” of the implications of the project on fish and fish habitat.

Kariya said it’s not unusual for companies at the “investigative stage” to operate anonymously. Some “are very careful (and) secretive for a host of reasons — competition, investors etc.,” he said in an email.

He also said companies take varied approaches with First Nations, though “the best ones start very early” in consulting aboriginal leaders.

Critics said Enbridge should be clearer about its plans, particularly since the company has been under scrutiny for not revealing details like the identities of the Northern Gateway investors and the names of First Nations groups that have taken equity stakes in the project.

“If a company is proud of what they’re doing, they usually put their name on it, right?” said New Democrat Nathan Cullen, MP for the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding where four of the hydro projects would be located. “For a company that doesn’t have a lot of public faith, this doesn’t help them gain any more.”

Joe Bevan, chief councillor of the Kitselas First Nation, said neither he nor his staff have been approached by the proponents of the hydro project that would be partly in his nation’s territory.

Bevan, who said the Kitselas are open to joint ventures with private companies, speculated Enbridge is operating through a numbered company to avoid bad publicity for the projects.

“The word Enbridge is like a four-letter word anywhere on this continent because of the bad reputation they’re getting in the media.”

Art Sterritt, executive director of Coastal First Nations, said Enbridge is in the green energy business in order to obtain “social licence” to advance pipeline projects. “It may well be that they’re sincerely trying to demonstrate that they’re a renewable energy company,” he added.

But efforts to win public favour will backfire if the company is seen as “sneaking around” through a numbered company, especially if the projects involve salmon habitat, he said.

Green party leader Elizabeth May said Enbridge should be more upfront, given the outcry over past publicity efforts such as the removal of 1,000 square kilometres of islands from the Douglas Channel in a video that attempted to prove tankers weren’t at risk while sailing to and from Kitimat.

Enbridge has been “less than fully candid in its dealings with British Columbians and First Nations,” she said. “Deciding to go after some salmon-bearing streams for hydro projects using the ruse of a numbered company they run strikes me as another failed effort to keep British Columbians in the dark.”

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